copyright question

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:29:04 -0400, Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com> said:

> That was exactly my area of confusion-- there is no more Plough 
> Broadcasting, and I too wanted to use a WCOP survey in my article-- 
> but I can't imagine who could grant me permission.  SO are you saying 
> the copyright renewed automatically in 1987, or are you saying I 
> might be able to use it under "fair use"?  I figure that using a WRKO 
> survey from the top-40 days requires asking somebody at the current 
> WRKO and hoping for the best.  But those long since defunct stations 
> are what puzzled me.    

I think that what Joe's saying is that, if you want to be sure you're
within your rights, you have to hire a lawyer to search the records
and give you advice appropriate to your specific situation.  (Or let
your publisher do the same -- all reputable publishers have people
whose job is to handle clearing rights for stuff like this, although
they usually try to make the author do all the work becaues the
research is tedious and the legal fees are not cheap.)

-GAWollman